Written Answers Nos. 374-388
374. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Minister for Education and Skills to support a matter (details supplied) regarding the Vocational Education Committee; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8046/16]
View answerThe Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, requires school management authorities in their role as employers to ensure the safety and health of their employees.
Circular Letter M18/99 "Guidelines on Violence in Schools" issued by my Department outlines the policy to be adopted in schools where incidents of assaults on teachers occur.
This Circular draws the attention of School Management Authorities to compliance with the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act as regards identifying hazards, assessing risks and putting in place appropriate safeguards and preventative measures, the duty of School Management Authorities to provide a safe environment for employees and other persons present in the school, measures to be taken to prevent or minimise the risk of assaults on teachers/Principals/Deputy Principals or other staff employed in schools, measures to be taken in support of staff who have been assaulted or threatened with assault and ensuring that appropriate action is taken to safeguard against a recurrence.
375. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Education and Skills if funding will be provided to a school (details supplied) in County Laois for essential works that are needed in the interest of the safety of the entire school community; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8029/16]
View answerI can confirm that the school referred to by the Deputy have made an application under my Department's 2016 Summer Works Scheme for the works in question.
Commensurate with the level of funding available for the Scheme, applications including that from the school concerned, will be assessed on a top down basis in accordance with the prioritisation criteria outlined in the governing Circular Letter for the Scheme. This Circular Letter (0055/2015), is available on my Department's website www.education.ie. It is my intention to publish a list of successful applicants shortly.
376. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she is aware that Quality and Qualifications Ireland, QQI, has been holding briefings on the new engagement process for validating new and existing awards; that all programmes must be renewed within five years of initial validation; that the fee for re-engagement is €5,000 per centre, with a possibility of a change to €2,000 thereafter; that these fees are due again in full if the original presentation is not found to be acceptable; if QQI examined the potential for a sliding scale for centres engaged in non-profit work; the total remuneration QQI is expected to receive from this process in 2016; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8058/16]
View answerQuality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) published a white paper for public consultation on draft policy and criteria for the validation of education and training programmes in December 2015. The consultation period for this white paper closed in February 2016. QQI is currently finalising the new policies and criteria for validation and these will be published in the coming months.
QQI published its policy on how it would re-engage with 'legacy' providers in 2014. A legacy provider refers to an education and training provider that had a previous quality assurance agreement with any of QQI's predecessor agencies – the Further Education and Training Council (FETAC), the Higher Education and Training and Council (HETAC), the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland (NQAI) and the Irish Universities Quality Board (IUQB).
The process of re-engagement involves agreeing revised quality assurance procedures with QQI in accordance with specified requirements as set down in the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act, 2012. The re-engagement process will allow legacy providers to demonstrate their capacity to provide and maintain, on an ongoing and sustainable basis, the infrastructure required to develop programmes consistent with national standards and to show that they have fit for purpose quality assurance arrangements in place.
The fees to be applied to legacy providers seeking to re-engage with QQI have yet to be determined.
377. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Education and Skills to provide funding for a wall at a school (details supplied) in County Westmeath. [8093/16]
View answerThe school to which the Deputy refers applied for funding under my Department's Emergency Works Scheme (EWG) for repairs to a boundary wall.
As the scope of works was considered to be outside the terms of this scheme, the application was refused.
It is open to the school to use their Minor Works Grant for the works in question.
378. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason a school (details supplied) will lose a special needs assistant during 2016; and if the matter will be reviewed immediately and the decision reversed. [8144/16]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) for allocating a quantum of Special Needs Assistant (SNA) support for each school annually taking into account the assessed care needs of children qualifying for SNA support enrolled in the school. Where children have significant care needs whereby they may need additional support to be able to attend school, the NCSE may make an allocation of SNA support to the school to assist that child.The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating such support, which is set out in my Department's Circular 0030/2014.
It is important to note that each school's allocation of SNA support can change from year to year and may be increased or decreased as students who qualify for SNA support enrol or leave a school. New students with care needs may, or may not, enrol to replace students who have left, for example, or SNA allocations may be decreased where a child's care needs have diminished over time.
The deployment of SNAs within schools is then a matter for the individual Principal/Board of Management. SNAs should be deployed by the school in a manner which best meets the care support requirements of the children enrolled in the school for whom SNA support has been allocated. It is a matter for schools to allocate support as required, and on the basis of individual need, which allows schools flexibility in how the SNA support is utilised.
All schools were asked to apply for SNA support for the 2016/17 school year by 29th February 2016. The NCSE will consider all applications for SNA support which have been made by schools. SENOs will continue to process applications for access to SNA support which are received after this deadline. Such applications will be processed in the order in which the applications have been received.
Schools will be advised of their revised SNA allocations for the 2016/17 school year, prior to the end of the current school year.
All schools have the names and contact details of their local SENO. Parents may also contact their local SENO directly to discuss their child's special educational needs, using the contact details available on www.ncse.ie.
As the Deputy's question relates to the allocation of SNA support by the NCSE to an individual school, I have referred this question to the NCSE for their consideration and direct reply to the Deputy.
379. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Education and Skills if there is an additional salary payment to primary teachers who qualified in earlier years and have recently completed and obtained an honours degree, in recognition of this extra qualification; if so, the arrangements in place to pay this; if these arrangements were suspended when this occurred; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8146/16]
View answerIn 2012 a public service-wide review of allowances was carried out by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. As a result of the review, qualification allowances were abolished with effect from 1st February 2012. Department of Education and Skills Circular 0008/2013 outlined the effect of this decision on teachers.
380. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Education and Skills the status of a new site and new premises for a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8148/16]
View answerI can confirm that a building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is included on my Department's 6 Year Construction Programme, due to go to construction in 2017.
I wish to advise the Deputy that when the acquisition by the Patron of the new site for the school in question is finalised, it is intended that the building project will be progressed through the Architectural Planning and Construction stages. Officials from my Department are in regular contact with the school authorities in relation to the progression of this project.
381. Deputy Tony McLoughlin asked the Minister for Education and Skills if officials from her Department will agree to meet with representatives of a school (details supplied) in order to provide them with new advice and clarification on the criteria for establishing an Aonad in County Sligo with a school which has over 375 pupils enrolled. [8131/16]
View answerMy Department has considered a proposal made by Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim Education and Training Board to provide Irish-medium education at second level through establishing an Aonad in an existing school in County Sligo. My Department has advised that the proposal needs to be re-examined by the ETB to address a number of issues that could assist in facilitating delivery of Irish-medium education more successfully and sustainably in the ETB's area of responsibility.
Officials from my Department have recently been in telephone contact with representatives of the school start-up group in County Sligo and have advised them that the appropriate course in this instance is to re-engage with the ETB concerning the re-examination of its proposal on the basis of the advice and clarification already provided by the Department. My Department officials will be happy to examine a proposal when submitted.
382. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Education and Skills to provide funding to a school (details supplied) which is applying to become the Foroige Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8173/16]
View answerThis Department provides capitation to schools which can be used for a number of purposes. It is normally used for mainstream education whether at primary or post primary. Schools would have discretion in relation to the funds. If a school chooses to become involved in the Foroige Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, it could allocate some of its capitation funding to this initiative.
It is not possible for this Department to provide discrete funding for the many initiatives that schools choose to participate in.
383. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Skills when she will implement the process, including valuation, of the disposal of her Departments lands at Ashbourne, County Meath, for the purpose of providing a public park; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8176/16]
View answerOfficials in my Department have recently forwarded to Meath County Council a valuation report in respect of the portion of land to which the Deputy refers.
Department officials will liaise further with officials in Meath County Council in respect of the matter.
384. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Education and Skills when she will introduce training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, CPR, for teachers in schools (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8186/16]
View answerUnder the provisions of the Education Act 1998, the board of management is the body charged with the direct governance of a school. Schools are required to take all reasonable precautions to provide training for teachers to ensure the safety and welfare of their pupils.
In recognition of the responsibility which the Education Act has imposed on Boards of Management and the increasingly complex environment in which they must operate, the Teacher Education Section (TES) of my Department, in conjunction with Drumcondra Education Centre, operates a scheme for the provision of support to school management bodies for the purpose of training and development of boards of management in the discharge of their duties and consistent with national and DES priorities. Among the areas covered in the training is Health and Safety.
The issue of making training in Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation available to schools is a decision for each individual Board of Management to make in relation to their own school.
385. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 721 to 723, inclusive, of 14 April 2016, to name the schools which have some spare capacity and the school which indicated a willingness to enroll an additional stream of junior infants in September 2016, given that parents in the Swords area of County Dublin are unaware of where such spare capacity exists. [8188/16]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that my Department will respond to her directly in the coming days with the details of the schools concerned.
386. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Education and Skills when she will provide funding for a replacement school at a location (details supplied) County Galway for students with intellectual disabilities; the progress to date on same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8156/16]
View answerI can confirm that the school, referred to, submitted a Major Capital Application in 1998 which was not progressed however at that time. It is open to the school in question to submit a revised Major Capital Application, which is available on my Departments website at www.education.ie., for consideration by my Department.
387. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Education and Skills her progress in providing of an Educate Together School in Claregalway, County Galway; if she has identified and acquired a site; if not, her efforts to do so, given her commitment in correspondence dated 25 October 2011 to the Board of Management that the process of identifying a suitable site commenced recently; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8197/16]
View answer395. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Education and Skills if a site (details supplied) currently being purchased in Galway is for a shared campus-style development for primary and post-primary education. [8277/16]
View answer408. Deputy Seán Canney asked the Minister for Education and Skills the progress made, in terms of site acquisition for a school (details supplied) in County Galway; when is it envisaged that this will be finalised; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8415/16]
View answer419. Deputy Hildegarde Naughton asked the Minister for Education and Skills if the 24-acre site purchased by her Department in Claregalway, County Galway will serve to co-locate the new vocational educational committee school, for which a contractor has been appointed, and the proposed Educate Together school; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8513/16]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 387, 395, 408 and 419 together.
I can confirm to the Deputy that in 2014 my Department acquired 10 acres of land in the Claregalway area to provide for educational purposes. This is in addition to lands acquired in the area by the GRETB (Galway Roscommon Education and Training Board).
A project for the school referred to is included in the 6 year construction programme that I announced last November. I can confirm that options regarding the proposed school location are currently being appraised by my Department. Officials within my Department will be in contact with the school authorities in due course.
388. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Education and Skills if a special needs assistant can continue working while studying to qualify as a primary student teacher on the distance learning course run by a college (details supplied); if a student can work as a special needs assistant in combination with teacher training practice in the same school, but during different hours; if not, the rule that prevents this; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8201/16]
View answerSpecial Needs Assistants (SNAs) are recruited specifically to assist in the care of pupils with disabilities, in an educational context. They may be appointed to a special school or a mainstream national school to assist school authorities in making suitable provision for a pupil or pupils with special care needs arising from a disability. The first priority is that the care needs of the children are met on an ongoing basis during the school year.
In June 2012, my Department, in conjunction with the School Management Bodies and the relevant Trade Unions, agreed a Career Break Scheme for Special Needs Assistants in Recognised Primary and Post-Primary Schools, the provisions for which are contained in Circular Letter 22/2012.
The purpose of the scheme is to enable employers, wherever possible, to facilitate applicants to take time off to engage in, among other things, personal development and education (including teacher training). This scheme therefore is applicable for courses referred to by the Deputy where participants are required to attend teaching practice and be absent from the provision of care duties for significant periods of time during the school year.
